$4 million to translate research into better health outcomes for Queenslanders

Brisbane Diamantina Health Partners (BDHP) has announced the six Queensland research projects that will share $4.1 million provided by the Medical Research Future Fund.

BDHP Acting General Manager Dr Susan Hawes explained the funding was part of $33 million the Australian Government was investing as part of its Medical Research Future Fund’s Rapid Applied Research Translation initiative (RART).

“RART is targeted at collaborative research that looks at health care processes, practices and interventions for better health outcomes.

“After a rigorous application process, BDHP has secured funding to support six research translation projects across our partnership.

“The projects address specific knowledge gaps in health and demonstrate clinical significance, that is that the treatments will have a real and genuine impact on patients’ lives.

“Each project has the potential for scalability and improved workforce capacity. Each project also requires strong multidisciplinary collaboration and meaningful consumer and community involvement.

“We congratulate all of the successful research project teams,” Dr Hawes said.

The research projects that will receive funding are:

Improving the mental wellbeing of parents after perinatal loss; development and implementation of a parent-centred online intervention. Professor Vicki Flenady leads this research project addressing the gap in post-hospital care for Australian parents experiencing perinatal death, which places them at risk of significant psychological distress.

Benefits and mechanisms of exercise in relapsed Multiple Myeloma (BeaMER-MM). Professor Michelle Hill leads this research project addressing the need to improve quality of life in patients with incurable Multiple Myeloma through individually tailored exercise programs.

Improving health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living with chronic pain; introducing yarning to the communication repertoire of health professionals. Mr Greg Pratt leads this research project addressing the appropriateness and cultural sensitivity of current pain services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients.

Personalising antibiotic therapy to improve outcomes in patients with severe infections. Professor Jason Roberts leads this research project addressing the need to personalise therapeutic antibiotic treatments for patients with severe infections by using and validating dosing software.

Centre for Personalised Analysis of Cancers (CPAC): Clinician research training at the translational interface. Professor Erik Thompson leads this research project addressing the need to optimise personalised medicine for cancer treatment, which would make it possible for clinicians to match patients to specific treatments.

Brisbane Diamantina Health Partners brings together 11 of Queensland’s leading health, education and research institutes to translate research into better health outcomes for Queenslanders. We aim to support and connect the phases of the research journey so that innovative research can improve health care as quickly as possible.

BDHP is an Advanced Health Research and Translation Centre, accredited by the National Health and Medical Research Council. We work on a wide range of research projects locally and nationally as part of the Australian Health Research Alliance. See https://brisbanediamantina.com.

The BDHP partners are: Brisbane South Primary Health Network, Children’s Health Queensland, Department of Health, Mater Group, Metro North Hospital & Health Service, Metro South Health, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Queensland University of Technology, The University of Queensland, and Translational Research Institute and West Moreton Health.